US renews list of freedom violators
WASHINGTON: The United States on Tuesday renewed its blacklist of eight countries considered violators of religious freedoms, turning back requests to add Pakistan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan, officials said.
The officials said that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice extended the designation of US ally Saudi Arabia as a “country of particular concern” as well as that of China, Iran, Myanmar, North Korea, Vietnam, Eritrea and Sudan, the officials said.
Countries face government sanctions on various fronts 180 days after being included in the blacklist. The announcement was made along with the separate release of the State Department’s seventh annual report on international religious freedom which took several US foes and friends alike to task for a lack of progress. The report branded Myanmar, China, North Korea and Cuba as countries using “totalitarian or authoritarian actions to control religious belief or practice” but removed Vietnam from the list, citing “significant” progress. Vietnam joined a list of seven countries, including Saudi Arabia, Iran, Sudan, Uzbekistan, Eritrea and Laos that exhibited “state hostility toward minority or non approved religions,” said the State Department.
The State Department annually blacklists countries for alleged religious freedom violations based on recommendations from a commission jointly appointed by President George W Bush and Congress. Rice’s predecessor Colin Powell added Eritrea, Saudi Arabia and Vietnam to the blacklist in September 2004 but there has been no word on whether they faced any US action. afp
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| Saturday, November 21, 2009
